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The San Diego Padres and New York Mets meet for Game 2 in The Big Apple! It's time to continue our MLB odds series with a Padres-Mets prediction and pick.
How bout' them Friars!? Who would have guessed the Padres would smash four home runs against Max Scherzer in a playoff game? San Diego showed up for Game 1 in New York with vengeance and proved a major point last night. The Padres are for real. This is a stacked roster that has the ability to pitch with the best of them and hit with the best of them. Yu Darvish was electric last night and only allowed the one solo shot from Eduardo Escobar.
The Mets' offense was non-existent last night but that was more so on the stuff from Darvish. They got to him in the first inning and swiped a few bases throughout the game. They did everything they could to try and come back as they were down 2-0 early after the 2-run shot from Josh Bell. The Mets have no choice but to win tonight or they will stay home for the rest of the postseason.
Here are the Padres-Mets NL Wild Card series MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
NL Wild Card Odds: Padres-Mets Odds
San Diego Padres: +1.5 (-160)
New York Mets: -1.5 (+132)
Over: 5.5 (-110)
Under: 5.5 (-110)
Why The Padres Could Cover The Spread
Starting for the Padres in Game 2 is southpaw Blake Snell. Over the last two months of the season, Snell was one of the top pitchers in the game. In 78 innings since the All-Star break, Snell has a 2.19 ERA and 105, yes, 105 strikeouts. He got hot at the right time as the Padres desperately needed his ability to strike out opposing hitters. Back on Sept. 21, Snell struck out a career-high 13 batters against the St. Louis Cardinals. He's allowed only two runs in his last four starts while striking out 32 during that span. Look for Snell to bring the filth as he tries to keep the Mets' bats silent.
The entire offense showed up for the Padres last night. Jurickson Profar guessed right on the first pitch of the game and hit a bloop single that resulted in a run. It's the little stuff like that, that gives the Padres an edge. San Diego does a great job of taking walks and finding ways to get on base. They struggled to get those runners to score during the season but proved to disrupt many opposing starters' flow during the course of a game. That will need to carry over tonight as they face one of the best pitchers of all time. SD won't see much success, so they need to do everything they can to raise his pitch count and force him out of the game as soon as possible.
Why The Mets Could Cover The Spread
Starting for the Mets in Game 2 is Jacob deGrom. Everyone knows deGrom is arguably the best pitcher in the game right now as he has shut down every single team for the past few seasons. However, over his last four starts, deGrom has seriously struggled. He's allowed at least three runs in each of his last four starts while allowing six runs to the Oakland Athletics. That game against the A's proves to be a huge concern because the A's have the worst offense in baseball. He couldn't bounce back in a crucial game against the Atlanta Braves and as a result, the Mets lost the division.
Expect all that to be thrown out the window. deGrom should figure it out tonight. The Mets are on their heels knowing a loss ends their season. deGrom and the Mets can't afford the Padres to smash again because if deGrom gets crushed, then the Mets are done. We will likely see vintage deGrom in a loud Citi Field tonight.
Offensively, the Mets didn't show up. Starling Marte and Escobar combined for four of the seven hits and now they will be facing a lefty tonight. Expect to see a lineup filled with right-handers as they will do everything they can to force the Padres bullpen to come into the game early.
Final Padres-Mets Prediction & Pick
This should be a closer game than Friday night. deGrom will be lights out and I expect the Mets to show up. I still think the Padres will score some runs so taking them to cover this spread is the right call. The Mets may win, but if they do it will be by just one run.
Final Padres-Mets Prediction & Pick: San Diego Padres +1.5 (-160)
